


Four Things One Thing

by hawrthiacoopri



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: First Kisses (I can assume), I didn't reread this after I write it so sorry :(, Just to guys kissing there's nothing gay about that, M/M, im sorry, its late, just a lot of blushing and hair tucking, this is a mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2016-10-30
Packaged: 2018-08-27 21:15:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8416978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hawrthiacoopri/pseuds/hawrthiacoopri
Summary: the five times mike pushed will away and the one time he didn't





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is just me trying to rein in my passion for insecure Mike Wheeler I'm sorry 
> 
> If you haven't heard of the 5 things 1 thing prompt then where have you been???? It's basically the 5 times something happened and the 1 time it didn't and I'm a hoe for it

1.  
"Michael, could you please come here?" Karen's voice drifted down the stairs, jolting Mike awake and making Will jump. 

"Yes, mom!" Mike yelled, the boys grumbling at him to shut up and watch the movie. He ignored them, running upstairs and blinking at the light. 

Karen smiled at her son, handing him a plate of pizza rolls and tucking a lock of hair behind his ear. "Here you go, honey." 

"Thanks, mom," He grinned at her and ran back down the stairs. 

Mike turned on the basement light, Dustin and Lucas groaning and running their eyes. 

"Quit your grumbling, babies." Mike set the plate down on the coffee table and sitting back down next to Will. 

"Oh, sweet! Pizza rolls!" Dustin grabbed a few, dropping one into Lucas's hands and popping one into his own mouth. Will took one as well, his eyes nervously darting to Mike's temple, where his hair had been tucked back. His cheekbone was high and defined. He looked like an angel. 

Mike sat back, not trying to join in. Lucas noticed. 

"Hey, Mike, why don't you eat something?" He poked his stomach. "You're so skinny." 

Mike smacked his hand. "Lay off, you idiot. I'm not hungry." 

"Really? Because you look like you are," Lucas teased, poking him repeatedly and grabbing his wrist. "What is this? A bird bone?" 

Mike rolled his eyes, flicking his finger and crossing his arms over his stomach. "Sure, Lucas. I'm an actual bird. What a funny joke." 

Lucas just snorted and ruffled his hair. 

•

Will was the last to go home, and he seemed pretty subdued, even for Will. 

"Ok, night, Will," Mike was about to close the door when the boy stuck his hand back in.

"Hey, Mike?" 

"Yeah?" Mike smiled, opening the door again. 

"I'm sorry that Lucas was ribbing on you earlier." 

"Aw, its fine. They always do stuff like that." 

Will raised his eyebrow. "All right... But..." he rubbed his neck. "It's not bad to be skinny, you know." 

"I know. It's fine. Or whatever. See you tomorrow, Will." Mike put his hand in his pocket and closed the door. 

"Night-" the door shut. "Mike." he finished his sentence in the silence of the night. 

Mike, on the other side of the door, was blushing horribly. The way that Will'd smiled at him, the way he'd been looking at him... it made Mike feel fluttery. And he didn't know why. 

But that's what friends felt for each other, right?

 

2.  
The two boys were sitting on the pool deck, licking popsicles and laughing. Lucas and Dustin had bailed last minute, leaving just Mike and Will to make fools of themselves in the water. 

"Hey, stop that!" Mike giggled, splashing his friend back and putting his cool, wet hand on Will's warm one. 

Blushing, Will kicked water onto his friend's legs and slid into the pool. Maybe the cold would cool his cheeks down.

"Not unless you can catch me," he giggled, knowing well that Mike was the fastest swimmer out of Dustin, Lucas, and him. His long legs gave him an advantage. 

"You're on, Byers," Mike smirked and dived into the water, tossing his popsicle stick aside and swimming after his friend. He dawdled a little, swimming around a group of girls and grabbing a floaty toy. Will got to the other side before him by a lot, and he slid up onto the wall and kicked his feet. 

Mike popped up right in front of him, smiling mischievously before ducking back down. 

"Oh hey, Mike. What took you so lo-" he was cut off by his ankles being pulled into the water, followed by the rest of him. He yelped, suddenly nervous because they were in the deep end and Will wasn't good at treading water, when he felt arms around his waist and Mike was holding him up, treading water with ease. 

"How are you carrying me?" Will tried to hide the flush on his cheeks, but it was hard to when Mike was so close to him, with his hands on his hips and his eyes glued to Will's face, 

Mike shrugged, and he might be imagining it, but Will thought he saw traces of pink on his face. "You're only ten percent of your body weight when you're in the water. So it's even easier to carry you in the water than it is on land."

"But doesn't that mean anything if you're also ten percent of your body weight," Will argued, "so how are you holding me up?" 

"Dunno." 

"It's because you're stronger than you give yourself credit for," Will said drily. Mike looked away. 

"Not really," he muttered. When he looked back at Will, he was cocking his head to the side. 

"Yes really." They made eye contact for a few seconds, and then Mike let go of Will's waist. He wishes he hadn't, later, while going over the events later in his head. He wishes he'd kissed Will right there; what was the worst that could happen? There wasn't anybody nearby. 

But Mike never had been very strong, had he.

3.  
Mike's hair was girly.

He knew it was girly, but he couldn't bring himself to cut it. He'd had it like this for a long time, and it didn't seem to bother anyone he really cared about. 

And anyways, it was something for people to focus on besides his freckles.

Which were also girly. And he also didn't like. 

And it wasn't as if he didn't know other people with hair like his; Will did, and Dustin did too. But they both had nice hair, Dustin with his curls and Will with the auburn color that gleamed in certain lights when he turned his head. Mike's own hair was boring, and it was awkwardly textured, curly in some places and straight in others. It was so black that in certain lights it reflected blue, and it had a shiny quality that made it look oily. It curled up at the nape of his neck in a way that Mike hated. He desperately wanted dark brown hair, or even something like his mom's. At least he'd look interesting.

"Mike, can I braid your hair?" Will broke the cacophony of the room. Lucas and Dustin were wrestling on the couch, and they didn't seem to be inclined to stop any time soon. 

"What?" Mike looked up at his friend, eyes clouding with confusion. "I mean, sure, if you want." 

"Cool." Will sat behind him, carefully pulling the strands of his hair and smiling to himself tremulously. "You're hair's really nice, you know," he blurted out, virtually kicking himself for saying that and working quickly. 

"Huh?" Mike sounded bewildered.

"I mean, it's a really nice color," Will backtracked unsuccessfully, trying to just finish the tiny braid and get this over with. 

"It's just black," Mike argued.

"Well, yeah, but it's completely black. There's no other colors in it. It's kind of cool." Will twined the last few strands together, moving Mike to face him. "There." 

"I can't see it, you know," he said, but touched it all the same. It felt nice to run his fingers over it. "Thanks, Will." He smiled, moving to sit alongside the shorter boy. Will sat up a little straighter; their thighs were touching now. And then their shoulders were. And then-

Dustin and Lucas were up, and grinning knowingly.

"What's going on you guys? You having a tea party without us?" Dustin said. He didn't mean anything by it; he was a nice kid. Good-natured.

"Yeah right, Dustin." Mike rolled his eyes. 

"No no, Dustin, they were making out. Isn't it obvious?" 

Dustin and Lucas made kissy noises, dipping Mike's ears and the tip of his nose in pink. 

He stood up, walking away from a star-struck Will. 

"Whatever," he said, tucking his hair behind his ear and sitting down on the couch. "Who wants to watch Star Wars?" 

4.  
"Will, stop, please," Mike writhed underneath Will's merciless fingers, giggling and curling in on himself. 

"Make me, Wheeler," he replied, but let Mike sit up. 

He had grass in his hair when he got up, and Will suddenly had the urge to pick it out. "Oh, thank god, I thought I was going to die in this field with you tickling me." He fixed his hair and laughed. 

"You wish," Will teased, standing up and offering him a hand. "Too bad I have to be home by six." 

"I'll ride with you," Mike offered instantly, taking his offered hand and getting on his bike. "Your mom will kill me if I don't come pick up Nancy's shoes." Nancy and Joyce had developed a quiet friendship, one that seemed a little symbiotic. 

Joyce borrowed Nancy's shoes, and Nancy borrowed Joyce's motherly love.

Will smiled gratefully. "Sure. That sounds good." 

Mike slipped his hands into his pockets, suddenly cold despite his warm cheeks. 

"Mike?"

"Yeah?" 

Will held out his hands, taking Mike's into his own, and rubbed them together. 

"What're you doing?" Mike looked quizzically at the other boy. 

"Oh, um. You looked cold. So I thought I'd warm you up." 

"Oh! Well... thanks." Mike grinned at Will in the setting sun, and Will swore he saw a crown on his head. 

"No problem." 

They rode in silence for a time, before Mike stopped at the corner to wait for Will. 

"Why're you so slow?" Mike teased him, knowing full well his friend was a great rider. 

"I'm not slow," he argued, "you're just too fast. It's those damn long legs of yours." 

Will said it with familiarity, as if he'd given a lot of thought to Mike's damn long legs. But Mike paid no mind. 

"That doesn't make a difference." Mike turned away, but he rode slower for his friend's sake. 

"Yes it does," he said derisively. "I have short legs and I go slower. You have long legs and you go faster. There's your proof." 

"You don't have short legs." Mike said it quietly. 

"Yes, I do. It doesn't matter to me, though. I know Jennifer Hayes still has a crush on me," he said jokingly, "so I can't look that bad." 

Mike shrugged and pedaled away, beating Will to his house by just a few seconds. 

"Told you that you were faster." Will smiled, his cheeks flushed from exertion. And maybe something else; the sight of Mike Wheeler chewing in his lip, looking at Will with an intense gaze that would make him melt any other time, but now just made him want to stare right back. 

"See you tomorrow, Mike." Will opened the door and went in.

"Night, Will." It was Mike's turn to have the door shut on him. 

5.  
Will has come to a conclusion; he had a crush on Mike Wheeler. 

And he'd also come to another conclusion. Mike Wheeler had really, really low self esteem. He aimed to fix that. 

They were alone one day. No Lucas or Dustin; they were both off galavanting at some state fair that Mike and Will weren't allowed to go to, due to allergies and grounding for staying out late. 

Will was drawing at Mike's desk. 

"Mike?" His voice came out soft in the small room. 

"Yes?" 

"Could you come over here and sit across from me?" 

Mike did. "What's up?" 

He felt his cheeks redden. "I'm drawing a portrait of you," he explained, "for art class. And I can't get your eyes right." 

"Oh. Um, okay." 

Will slapped Mike's wrist gently. "And don't look so sad. You look better when you smile." 

"You sound like my mom," Mike smiled, tucking his hair behind his ear and slouching forward. 

"Good." Will grinned at him before getting back to work. Mike felt his cheeks redden at Will's intense gaze. 

They sat like that for a while, Until Will put his mechanical pencil down and picked up his colored pencils. 

"You know you're really attractive, right?" Will's words tumbled out stunted and quickly, with an embarrassed edge. 

Mike's entire face flushed. "Now you really sound like my mom." 

Will took a deep breath. There was no going back. "Seriously. You're really cute. And stuff. I guess." Will tripped over his words, trying to make them better and only getting worse. 

"Thanks." Mike looked away, only to have Will tilt his head back into place and keep working, obviously upset. His hands were shaking as he drew. 

Mike slid a little closer. And then a little more. And then he was suddenly looking straight at Will Byers with his head on his elbows, attempting to look nonchalant.

"What's wrong?" 

Will looked away. "It's just-" he looked angry. "You always say bad crap about yourself, and you never listen to anyone who tried to compliment you. And it's so weird to look at you, this really nice-looking person, and know that you don't believe that you're nice looking. I take every compliment I get, because I don't get many. But you always get them." He put on a high voice. "'Oh, Micheal, you're such a handsome boy.' 'Mike, that shirt looks nice on you.'" He stopped the voice. "All the freaking time, Mike, and you never care. You always have something bad to say about yourself. And it makes me feel gross." 

Mike was tapping his fingers on Will's wrist. 

"Those aren't good reasons to feel gross," Mike looked concerned. "You shouldn't feel bad for me." 

Will pushed his hair back. "That's not the point. The point is that you don't know how- how-" Will said it without thinking. "How handsome you are!"

Mike sat back, a frown tugging at his lips. "You don't need to be nice to me, Will." 

Will stood up, his portrait long forgotten and his fists clenched. "But I'm not just being nice! You're the one being stupid in this situation!" He was suddenly much closer to Mike. "You have to be to most oblivious person in the history, Mike Wheeler. I've liked you since we were 8 years old. Before we even talked to each other, I thought you were cute. And now you're telling my I'm just being nice?" 

Mike looked down at him, a smile playing at his lips. He bent down and hugged Will, kissing him square in the mouth. 

When they pulled apart softly, Mike's smile had widened. "That was nice." 

"Yeah," Will said breathlessly. 

"But Will?" 

"Yeah, Mike?" 

"It's in history, not in the history." 

Will hugged the pale boy fiercely. "You're an idiot, Mike Wheeler." 

And this time, Mike didn't push him away.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave kudos and comments if you liked this!! I hope you enjoyed this mess of a fic <3
> 
> I intend on writing a story about Nancy and Joyce's friendship soon, so watch out for that.


End file.
